September started off wild then eased back for the second half of the month and now WeatherWatch.co.nz forecasters say the start of October this coming Monday may signal another windier, cooler, change for New Zealand.

Head weather analyst Philip Duncan says daylight savings kicks off this weekend, another sign summer is coming, however the weather is a long way from being summer yet.  “Spring is about hints of summer with regular reminders of winter.  This next cool to cold change will remind us the hottest time of the year is still four or five months away”.

WeatherWatch.co.nz says the cold change will move across the country during Monday and Tuesday – with rain , showers and cold southerlies – and again it will also move up the east coast of New Zealand on the Tuesday and Wednesday, regions normally very dry in spring.

“Southland and Otago will be cold on Monday with highs of 8 to 12 degrees and we may see snow showers down to 300 or 400 metres.  While we’re wanting to give farmers an early heads up we’re also wanting to explain this isn’t looking significant and like most cold snaps in October it will be short lived to a day or two” says Duncan.  “We’re hoping this will have little to no serious impact on lambing, but like any southerly change we like to keep farmers and growers in the loop”.

Snow is not forecast to sea level or in any of the main centres at this early stage, however temperatures are expected to drop by a few degrees for most places, especially those more exposed to the wind like Wellington later on Monday and in to Tuesday.

Even Auckland may be cool – going from recent highs of around 17 or 18 degrees to just 15 next Tuesday with a wind chill another couple of degrees lower in the wind.

A very large high – one of the largest so far this year in our part of the world – will be drifting over Australia and the Tasman Sea early next week.  The centre of the high is expected to remain north of New Zealand which will block most of the big rain makers from reaching us but will mean more fuel for the cooler sou’westers across much of next week.

– WeatherWatch.co.nz